tile vs vinyl flooring in the bathroom

OK so i'm still debating...ceramic tile or vinyl flooring in the
bathroom
ceramic is harder to put in. grout tends to mildew. and it cracks
but it LOOKS great
vinyl is easier...waterproof but doesnt look as good
any opinions??

Over the years I have used both.
Properly installed tile over a properly prepared surface of suitable
thickness does not crack. A first class install will last at least 30 years.
I just tore out one that was installed in 1937. No vinyl is going to last
that long.

I can feel my bathroom floor flex when I lean back and forth. Joists are
only 2x8, with around a 12' span. Even though subfloor in that part of
house is the original diagonal 1x4, it is still pretty flexible. House
isn't fancy enough to make tile worthwhile- if I splurge and redo that
bath, it'll get a good grade of vinyl- no sense in putting pearl
earrings on a pig.

The one I ripped out including the joists was a true mudset with the carved
joist tops filled with concrete 2x8 and about 12 foot. Weather had been too
bad for me to haul that load to the landfill. I bet those joists were
supporting at least 1000 pounds in a 25 square foot area. I went back with
2x8s but the spacing is more like 12-14" CC. Blocking at 4.5 foot and 9
foot, topped off with two layers of 23/32 plywood. It is as solid as a
rock. I plan to add 1/4" hardie and tile.
My point is blocking or bridging may take the flex out of the floor. But
then vinyl can also be a good choice if you live there. Tenants will
destroy vinyl in 5 years or less. They are both good products.
Colbyt

Oh, I agree with you- a traditional tile job over a reinforced floor is
the gold standard. Just saying that on this place, I'd never get my
money back out of it, and I'm a guy, and I live alone, so why bother?
When I was a kid, the high-end places my old man built still sometimes
got mud-bed floors, but more for entry hall slate than for bathrooms.
Most places got vinyl in kitchens and baths. Did a few in Torginal,
which was a nice concept, but the early stuff wasn't too durable and/or
the install crew didn't have the correct training. Wear layer ground
off, and the untaped seams of the underlayment telegraphed through in a
couple of years.
--
aem sends...

tie all the way because!
Males who miss will stain vinyl and you will be doing the job again in
5 years or less.:(
new floors are work. Use concrete board!
or get a pro to do it so it lasts a long time.
the grout lines add traction on a wet floor, for this reason small
tiles are prefered, pick a grout that will age gracefully.........

If you've seen mildew on bathroom floor grout, it's because a human was
doing something very wrong.
1) Pouring water onto the floor during showers. I say "pouring" because the
word signifies intent. We know there is intent because it's so easy to NOT
let water hit the floor during showers. If the human does not prevent it, it
means the human wanted it to happen.
2) Leaky toilet or sweating toilet tank. Easy to fix. If it's not fixed,
it's because someone wanted it to happen.
3) Lousy ventilation during showers. Easy to fix. If it's not fixed, it's
because someone wanted it to happen.
Fix the human problems and you'll have no mildew on your floor grout.
I said FLOOR GROUT. We're not talking about the grout in the shower itself.

I lived in a house that had ceramic tile in the bath. ON the walls and on
the floor. Hard to keep clean. I moved into a house about 5 years ago and
redid the bathroom. Went to the stud walls. Had a good grade of vinyl on
the floor and the fake marble for the shower.
If I never see ceramic tile it will be too soon.
I guess that the looks is in the person looking at it.

Tile is easy to keep clean if it's properly sealed. You almost never see
dirt, etc., on dark floor tiles. I've got white tile in one bath and it gets
dirty from the rays emitted by my eyeballs! The wine-colored floor tiles in
another bath (and kitchen) don't show any dirt at all, nor do they show the
drops of wine that often fall on them.
Mustard is a diffferent story.

Not me! Mustard is known to drive the libido into afterburner mode - I'm an
oatmeal man for that very reason.
It's the little woman who slathers it on biscuits, chocolate mints, ice
cream, and, when in an agitated state from too much mustard, the floor.

I've got (multi color) granite floor tiles for my kitchen counter top.
Almost anything spilled, blends right in. It always looks clean, even
when it's not (I'm sure is why they use them for flooring). I'm not anal
about cleaning so this suits my life, and when I do clean it, it is
super easy. This contrasts with the stainless steel I had before that
looked a little dirty when it *was* clean. The commercial vinyl floor I
had before was way too much trouble to maintain. Bathrooms are small,
I'd spring for good tile.
Jeff

Vinyl is the most practical for a moisture-intensive environment like a
bathroom.
If tiles crack, then the floor is poorly-prepared and has insufficient
rigidity.
If you do decide on tiles, use black grout. Any lighter color will yellow
in the region of the toilet (guess why).

Advantages of tile over vinyl:
1. Lasts forever
2. Grout will not mildew if you slather on the sealer
3. I sometimes see tile for free on Craigslist. I've never seen free, used,
vinyl.*
4. Tile is "mistake friendly." If you goof, you grab and cut another tile.
If you goof on a sheet of vinyl, it's back to the borg for another sheet!
--------
* I got about 600 sq ft of free ceramic tile. Had to clean off the stuck on
thinset, but that wasn't hard - just time consuming. I tiled the hall bath
and kitchen with it for just the cost of the thinset, grout, and sealer.
Still got a lot left!
Now here's what's interesting. The chap from whom I got the tile had it in
his kitchen and family room and maybe a hallway or two. His concrete floor
started cracking and heaving which started fracturing the tile. His
solution? Rip out the tile and put down carpeting so the cracks wouldn't
show.
Clever solution, but, I dunno...

Well, I learned here that ceramic tile is not waterproof. I guess the
tile is but water can seep through the grout, right. I rarely get the
floor wet, and the one time the bathtub overflowed, most of the water
probably got through where the floor meets the bathtub (although maybe
there is way to waterproof that.) If it hadn't done that, it would
have gone through where the floor meets the walls. So you have to
think about waterproof in the middle and maybe not at the edges.
You might be able to find a good pattern for bathrooms too. My friend
put vinyl "linoleum" in the house he was selling and it looked just
like laminate, until I found one spot where it was "bubbling" up for
some reason. It looked like hardwood at first until I saw there was
no seam between "boards".

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